About 2 weeks ago I was on Cody Bunch's VCAP-DCA brownbag podcast. We discussed my home lab and how I have everything configured. As being a part of the show, I was given a 50% off voucher for my VCAP-DCA exam. The day after the podcast I scheduled my VCAP-DCA exam and that's where I started losing my mind.
Does anyone remember The Office episode where Dwight thinks it's Friday? That's basically what happened to me. I scheduled my exam for March 31st, and for some reason I had it stuck in my head that March 31st was a Friday. I woke up on Friday morning at 7:15am ready to take my 8am exam, looked at my morning facebook feed and I saw someone saying "Happy April Fools Day". I thought to myself, huh? I double checked my phone and sure enough, it was April 1st. My test was scheduled for Thursday. I called Pearson Vue and they basically told me I was SOL. Sorry, no refunds. Great, there goes $200.
I assured myself I was ready for the exam, so at 8:00am I went on the Pearson Vue site and registered again for the VCAP exam for Monday April 4th... or so I thought....
Today I went to the testing center here in Louisville and I was admitted to the exam room. Atleast this time I made it in on the correct day. I sat down for my exam, took the quick 2 minute survey and then to my amazement I saw the title slide "VMware Certified Advanced Professional - Datacenter Design Exam". WHAT?! I registered for the VCAP-DCA, not the DCD.
I called the testing administrator over and informed her that there has been some kind of mistake. She told me to hang tight and she will see what's going on. About 4 minutes later she comes back to me and says she doesn't know what's wrong but let's get on the phone with Pearson Vue. I called the 1-800 number and I told the customer service lady that there was a mistake because I registered for the VCAP-DCA exam and not the VCAP-DCD. She said her records indicated that I registered online and that I specifically chose the VCAP-DCD exam and my confirmation email says so. I looked at my confirmation email on my iPhone and sure enough...I accidently registered for the VCAP-DCD. I'm guessing the problem was because I didn't have the option to choose the VCAP-DCA because I didn't wait the 7-10 day lag period for the exam to be an option. Couple that with being pissed off and 8am, it was a costly mistake.
I begged her for a refund because I mistakenly registered for the exam. Again, in true Pearson Vue fashion, she said no refunds. Oh well, screw it, let's take the test and see what happens. I was completely unprepared, I walked back into the testing center and noticed that 15 minutes of time had drained off the clock. Perfect.
I used every bit of my remaining time and completed the exam. The exam was tough and took into account about 50% technology and 50% business requirements stuff. When time expired, I was taken to a screen that said "Congratulations". Holy Smokes! I passed and that's all that matters. Now I need to take the VCAP-DCA exam and put this to rest...perhaps I should stick in a vacation day so I can clear my head.
